


Merry and Bright

by orphan_account



Series: Enchanted Worlds [10]
Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2013-11-19
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:55:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas preparations are underway at the castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry and Bright

The first day of their Christmas holidays dawned cold and bright, pale sunshine gleaming prettily on the snow. It was tempting to sleep in for once, but Ahiru’s excitement over the plans for the day won out, and she practically leapt out of bed to get ready and go eat breakfast, moving so quickly that she was surprised to find as she rushed down the hall that she had indeed remembered to put on socks. She had done everything so quickly and distractedly that it was all a blur, and some details of her morning routine she honestly didn’t recall doing.

Her excitement further increased when she entered the family dining room with Fakir, Rue, and Uzura, and saw how it had changed from the last time she’d been in there. “Woooow…” An enormous Christmas tree had been set up in front of the windows where she and Fakir had read the story of Tam Lin on Halloween, and was waiting to be decorated with the things in the boxes sitting beside it. The round table they sat at when they ate in here had been moved aside to make room for what looked like the one from the formal dining room; someone had draped it with protective cloth, and a wide variety of crafting supplies covered the surface. Past the tree, a fire crackled in the fireplace, and something had been added to it to give it a sweetly spicy scent.

“Oooooohhhh!” Uzura’s tiny legs propelled her over to the table, where she climbed up on one of the chairs so that she could reach into the giant bowl of popcorn perched there and help herself to a handful. “It’s yummy zura!”

“Oh, no, Uzura, that’s not for snacking.” Ahiru shook her head. “We’re going to make popcorn balls for the tree from that, we can’t eat it now.”

“But I _want_ to eat it now zura.” Uzura pouted.

“We’ll eat them when we take the tree down.” Fakir lifted Uzura from the chair and set her on the floor. “I promise. Besides, you just had breakfast, didn’t you?”

“I’m still hungry zura.”

“She’s a growing girl, I expect nothing less.” Chrestomanci laughed as she emerged from behind the tree. “It’s all right, Uzura, Mama thought of that, and we have something fun to do while they make things.”

“I’m not going to make wreaths with them zura?” Uzura asked in a forlorn tone as her mother led her over to the round table.

“No, you’re not. Because you’re going to help Mama make a gingerbread house.” She set Uzura in one of the chairs, and the little girl’s face lit up as she saw the components for the house laid out on the table. “We have candy here to decorate it with when we’re done building it, and Mama doesn’t mind if you sneak some. There’s plenty more in the kitchens, after all.” She winked at her daughter. “Just don’t make yourself sick. And when we’re all finished, we’ll put some gingerbread people in it to live there.”

“Ooooohhhh! Sounds like fun zura!” Uzura clapped her hands together happily.

“I’m glad you think so.” Chrestomanci smiled fondly and ruffled her hair before sitting down beside her. “Now, where shall we start…?”

“Good, that’ll keep her busy,” Rue said in a low voice as the other three found places at the larger table. “I love her, but she’d be in the way if she tried to help with this. And she’d eat all the popcorn besides.”

“Um, is it hard to do this?” Ahiru swallowed nervously. “I – I’ve never made a wreath or a popcorn ball before…”

“Not at all.” Rue smiled encouragingly. “Just watch what we do and you’ll get the hang of it soon enough.”

“O-okay…”

They spent the better part of an hour just making little wreaths from branches that had been cut from the tree, adding bows and holly berries and painted acorns, among other things. Ahiru found herself looking at Fakir the most, watching his hands work and trying to think about how she wanted to decorate hers. That was easier said than done when she couldn’t help but think about when she’d held his hand that one day after Halloween and how nice his hands were, but she managed in the end to work on her own wreaths and produced results she was reasonably satisfied with.

After that they moved on to constructing popcorn balls and garlands. That was something Ahiru couldn’t get the hang of, so after some brief frustration, she switched to doing something she was more interested in anyway: making some homemade ornaments to hang on the tree beside the ones that Fakir and Rue had made years ago. While they finished up with the popcorn and carefully sealed the edible globes so that they would be fresh when the time came to take down the tree, Ahiru worked on her ornaments. She started by gluing glitter to a few pieces of paper, and when they were dry, she folded them up and used a pair of scissors to cut them into the shape of snowflakes. As she waited for them to dry, she drew a ballerina on another sheet of paper and colored her using the colored pencils that had been provided before carefully cutting her out too.

By the time that was done, Rue and Fakir had left the table to go string the lights on the tree and hang up wreaths around the room. Ahiru cut some yellow paper into shapes and used them to assemble a little duckling, and then found a clear glass ball that she painted various swirls and curlicues on in all different colors. She wound up smudging the paint in a few places, but overall mostly liked how it came out. While the paint dried, she found a piece of purple felt that she formed into a ball and stuffed with jangly little beads before sealing it up and rolling it in first glue, then glitter. As she set it aside, she glanced nervously at where Fakir and Rue seemed to be finishing up with the lights and wreaths, and bounded up from the table to go join them as they started to unpack the boxes at the foot of the tree, carrying her finished ornaments with her.

“Just in time,” Rue said with a smile as Ahiru knelt beside them to peer into the boxes.

“Good!” Ahiru beamed. “I didn’t want to miss this! You have to tell me who made which ones!”

“Of course, of course.” Rue drew out a glass ball of her own, intricately and beautifully painted in shades of red and sparkly white. “This one is mine, I made this last year. What do you think?”

“It’s so pretty!” Ahiru gaped at it. “You’re really good at painting, Rue! I didn’t know you did that!”

Rue blushed. “Only sometimes, a little. Not regularly. But it is fun, I’ll admit that.”

“I really like it!” Ahiru reached into the box and pulled out a glass slipper. “What about this one?”

“No one.” Rue shook her head. “Well, I mean, none of us here. That’s one of the store-bought ones that have gotten added over the years. Same with this.” She held up a little walnut that had been painted gold. “There’s a million of these, and I don’t know where they came from. When Uzura was younger, we had to stop her from trying to eat them.”

“And you once tried to use this to open them.” Fakir indicated the miniature nutcracker he’d just pulled out of the box in front of him.

Rue scowled. “Your memory is too good sometimes.”

“Hmph.” He shrugged and went back to unpacking decorations. Ahiru watched as he pulled out a box of tinsel, more walnuts, and a few animals. There was a small goat, a cat, a frog, and a couple of penguins in scarves.

“Oh and, and then… and then there’s this one.” Rue sounded like she was struggling not to laugh, which drew Ahiru’s attention. Her lips twitching with barely suppressed mirth, she retrieved something from the depths of the box. “I’m not sure _what_ this is, except that Fakir made it.” She held it up for them both to see. “Fakir, care to explain this one?”

It was a strange little creation made of felt; it had a misshapen brown head on an unevenly cut backing of dark green felt, and what looked like little black antlers extended from the head. There were eyes glued on with one a little lower than the other, a weirdly shaped mouth drawn on, and something white attached to the bottom.

“I don’t know.” Fakir’s tone was even and neutral. “I made it so long ago that I don’t remember.”

“Oh, come on now, you must remember something!” Rue prodded him. “Was there specific inspiration for it, some thing or other you were trying to replicate? Or was it just random weirdness?”

“I said I don’t know.” There was an edge in his voice now. “What does it matter? It’s childish garbage that should’ve been thrown out years ago.”

“Awww, don’t say that!” Ahiru gently took the little creature from Rue’s hand and examined it. “I – I think it’s cute. I don’t know what you were trying to make, but maybe… maybe it’s…” Her little face screwed up in an expression of intense concentration, and Fakir had to try not to stare at how cute _she_ looked – much more so than his stupid ornament, in his opinion. “A fairy! A fairy creature, like the one you told me you met one Halloween!” She smiled brightly. “I think that’s what you made, and I like it!”

“A fairy creature, huh…” Embarrassment and warmth were mingling inside him at her words. No one had ever really said they liked the things he’d made, so it was a strange new experience. “If that’s what you want to think, sure.”

“I do!” Ahiru reached over and laid it on his lap. “Here, you made it, so you should hang it up!”

“A-all right…” He moved it onto the floor so he could continue sorting through the box. There was more tinsel, and more walnuts, and a heavy pewter knight. Beside the knight was a little wooden soldier that had a large piece missing from one leg. It had been painted, badly, which identified it as more of his own handiwork.

“Ooh, I remember that one.” Rue had spotted the soldier. “You made the mistake of letting Uzura hold it when she was still a baby, and she threw it across the room, which took that chunk out of its leg.”

“Aw, how sad, he got hurt.” Ahiru gave the little soldier a sympathetic look before returning her attention to unpacking ornaments. “Oooh, this is pretty too!” She shook a little lace ball filled with noisy beads. “Who made this one? Or was it from a store?”

“I made it.” Rue looked proud of herself. “This one too.” She showed Ahiru a little felt snow woman with a cheery face and yarn hair. “And this I sewed year before last.” She held out a little swan made of some kind of fluffy white fabric.

“Oh, Rue, those are so pretty!” Ahiru stared in awe at them. “You’re so good at this stuff!”

“Thank you, I like to think so too.” Her lips twitched again as she set aside her own ornaments and reached for something Ahiru couldn’t see. “Too bad the same can’t be said for Fakir.” She pulled out another felt creation, this one a snowman, but the face was decidedly strange-looking and the body was lopsided and uneven. “Look at _this_ one!”

“Rue, stop it.” Ahiru frowned. Fakir was pretending to be irritated, and maybe he really was, but she could tell that he was actually embarrassed and felt awkward about his work being mocked like this. “I – I’m not very good at making stuff either, are you going to make fun of mine when they’re up on the tree?”

“Of – of course not, I would never…” Rue trailed off on a sigh. “No, you’re right. I’m sorry, Fakir.”

“Hmph. It’s fine.” Fakir shrugged as he carefully removed some old paper snowflakes from his box. “They’re ugly little things, it’d be no loss if we tossed them into the fire.”

“You stop that too, Fakir!” Ahiru looked upset. “You – you worked hard to make these, and even if they didn’t come out the way you wanted, they’re still special cause you made them and nobody else could make something exactly the way you do. And I think they’re cute and belong on the tree, so please don’t say things like that or, or do that. It’d be so sad if you threw them away!”

“I won’t. Relax.” Fakir shook his head. “Don’t get so worked up, idiot. I didn’t really mean that I was going to burn them.”

“W-well, how was I supposed to know?” She pouted. “You talked about burning that Halloween picture too, and you seemed to mean _that_!”

She had a point. Fakir sighed. “No… you’re right. Sorry.” He looked away from her and down into the box, and something she’d probably like caught his eye immediately. “Here.” He picked it up and set it beside her. “I made this one too, I think you might be interested in it.”

“It’s…” Ahiru’s unhappy expression instantly faded away and became one of delight. “It’s a little duck!”

“Oh, I remember that one too,” Rue commented. “You loved ducks when you were little, didn’t you, Fakir?”

“So did I!” Ahiru’s eyes sparkled, and Fakir couldn’t help but feel a thrill of nervous excitement as he remembered the hat, scarf and mittens set he’d bought her; he only hoped her expression when she saw it would contain as much joy as it did now. “And – and I still really like them, and…” She held up the duck she’d made a little while earlier. “I made one too! We should hang them up together!”

“That sounds good.” Fakir smiled at her, and Ahiru’s heart fluttered at the sight of it.

By the time they finished unpacking everything, Uzura and Chrestomanci were done assembling and decorating their gingerbread house, and the little gingerbread people Ebine had baked were wandering around inside it. They came over to join Ahiru, Fakir, and Rue as they began to decorate the tree with the tinsel and ornaments. In addition to the ones they’d discussed with each other, there was a glass ball with smudged, poorly done streaks of paint on that Fakir had done, a bow made of several ribbons together that Rue had made, and even a couple by Uzura. Her mother had sewn a teddy bear for her, and let her glue on the eyes and tie ribbons around its neck and paws, and had helped her make little paper gingerbread people. Ahiru hung her paper ballerina facing the wooden soldier, and placed the matching pewter princess near the knight, just below a string of shiny silver bells.

“What’s that one?” Fakir asked as she tried to find a place for one of her homemade ornaments, the little ball of purple felt. He was genuinely curious about it, but more importantly needed some way to take his focus off how adorable she looked right now. She’d somehow gotten tinsel in her hair while decorating the tree and it was distracting him. He was tempted to pluck it out for her, which would mean getting to touch her soft, pretty hair, but he just couldn’t bear to. It was too cute to ruin.

“It – it’s a sugarplum!” Ahiru put it above the nutcracker. “Um, I mean, I know sugarplums don’t really look like that, but I thought it’d be funny, and kinda cute… is it silly?”

“Not at all.” He smiled at her again. “That makes you the sugarplum fairy, doesn’t it?”

“Huh? Oh – yes!” Ahiru was startled at first as she’d never heard Fakir make a joke before, but recovered quickly and giggled. “Yes, it does!”

“What’s so funny?” Rue poked her head around the tree. “I don’t get it.”

“You – you wouldn’t, it’s… kind of our private little joke.” Ahiru blushed.

“You two have private jokes now?” Rue raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I like that.” She secretly did though, in a way – if they were close enough that they shared private jokes, that the usually dour, stoic Fakir would even _make_ a joke to Ahiru, it strengthened her theory about their mutual feelings for each other. Now if only they would stop being so silly and _do_ something about said feelings, ah, that would be best. Though admittedly it was still fun to watch and tease them.

“S-sorry…” Ahiru’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I – I don’t mean to leave you out, and it’s not a joke at your expense, I promise…”

“It’s fine,” Rue assured her. “I’m only joking. Really, I’m happy to see you two getting so close.” And she was – even setting aside that they were falling for each other, it was obvious their friendship was good for both of them. There was obviously something about Fakir that made Ahiru happy, and Ahiru’s sweet, bubbly personality was unexpectedly having a positive effect on Fakir. He still hid his real feelings as best he could, but even so it was obvious that he was happier now than he had been before she’d come to the castle. How could she begrudge them that?

“O-okay.” Ahiru couldn’t help but blush again, and she didn’t notice Fakir turning a little red himself.

They continued decorating together, and by chance the last thing to go up was Ahiru’s little duck. She hung it so that hers and Fakir’s faced each other, and as she did, the beaks bumped together. She heard Uzura giggle at that. “Did the ducks just kiss zura?”

“QUA – I – I mean, wh – what?” Ahiru turned bright red. “They – they – um, um…” Beside her, Fakir turned away so that she wouldn’t see that he was blushing furiously too, and at a total loss for words.

“It certainly looks like they did, doesn’t it?” Rue smirked as she saw how flustered they were getting. “Good catch, Uzura. Maybe they’re not ducks at all, but little lovebirds.”

“That’s – you’re ridiculous!” Fakir had recovered enough to sputter indignantly at her. “That’s not even – they’re not the same kind of birds at _all_ , they don’t look _anything_ alike, lovebirds aren’t even waterfowl! That’s just – just stupid, where do you – where do you get these ideas from?”

“Relax, Fakir, it was a joke.” Rue laughed. “Nothing to get so upset about.”

“Fakir and Ahiru’s ducks are lovey-dovey zura?” Uzura asked as she stared up at them. “Like Rue and the prince zura?”

“Yes, they – wait, what?” It was Rue’s turn to become flustered. “Who – who told you that, Uzura? I – I –” She looked frantically around, and then gulped nervously. “I, um… yes… I mean no, I mean… oh, look, Uzura, there’s some popcorn left! Let’s finish it off!” She grabbed Uzura’s hand and led her over to the table, hoping to distract her with food.

Fakir made a noise of disdain. “What a hypocrite,” he muttered, just low enough that only Ahiru heard him.

“What do you mean?”

“That she’s fine with teasing others, but as soon as something comes up that could embarrass her, she changes the subject as quickly as possible.” He folded his arms and shook his head. “Ridiculous.”

“I guess…” Ahiru felt somehow that she should stick up for Rue, but at the same time she was just relieved that she herself wasn’t getting teased anymore right now, so she let it slide. “Um, anyway, though…” She turned to look at the tree, all lit up and decorated. “I – I think the tree looks wonderful, don’t you? I like how all our ornaments look, and the lights… it’s so pretty!”

Fakir’s expression softened into a smile as he gazed at her. “… Yeah.”


End file.
